12 inches and counting… dark brown coils for depth with honey brown tips for creativity… is the longest story hanging down my back. It swings when I walk, stands while I talk, and never misses a day of reminding me of who I am. September 9th, 2024, will mark two years since my head of hair became a head of storytelling. Before starting my loc journey, I struggled with self-identity and lacked the confidence to fully immerse myself in life. Part of this struggle was tied to my parents' pursuit of the American Dream. They immigrated from Nigeria to the US, and our family's focus on financial stability often came at the expense of mental health. It was a mindset I struggled to embrace because it felt like chasing something that wasn't there. Over time, I realized this was their journey, their story, born out of sacrifices and dreams for a better life for my siblings and me. Growing my locs has been transformative, instilling self-confidence and teaching me the core of mental health awareness. The slow and steady process was more than a step; it was a leap towards self-acceptance and self-love, traits essential for understanding the importance of mental health. Through this journey, I have learned the importance of self-care. Maintaining my locs requires regular attention and care, which has improved my overall mental health, enabling me to perform better academically and maintain healthier relationships. My journey has also inspired others, especially within my family and community in Newark, NJ. Many individuals look toward my locs as a story and feel inspired to begin their loc journey. This experience taught me leadership in a way I had never known, motivating my commitment to teaching others to embrace their authentic selves and advocating for mental health and self-care through my story. I aspire to major in psychology at Swarthmore College to deepen my understanding of mental health. My goal is to tell stories that encourage young Black kids to take care of themselves, love themselves, and prioritize their mental and spiritual health. Currently, I use my dreadlocks as my story, but I also express myself through photography, poetry, and technology, merging the growing world with spiritual and mental wisdom. Today, my locs hold substantial weight, carrying ounces of adversity and pounds of continuous success. Navigating this dream of exploring my identity has been challenging, but I will never forget that I am an immigrant kid. As a young Black kid in America who often felt silenced, I remember thinking that emotional expression had no place in my household or even in school. Black youth today lack interactive emotional outlets, and instead of ignoring these needs, we must prioritize them. While I am grateful for the opportunities in America, I cherish my Nigerian identity and aim to reverse the effects of feeling silenced and invisible. My dream is to help Black youth understand that they control their destiny. College is allowing me to grow into who I am and be seen and accepted as that person. This is the true opportunity and gift my parents gave me by moving to Newark and raising me here, with consequences they did not anticipate. I want more people to know that my locs are not just hair; they are the roots of my resilience and the blossoms of my journey towards self-acceptance and mental well-being, a powerful story that channels my life, my parents' journeys, and my ancestral power.

Telemedicine is a remarkable testament to how technology can revolutionize healthcare and inspire positive change globally. Its ability to reach people wherever they are, regardless of location, and bring medical expertise to individuals is truly inspiring to me. This innovative use of technology in healthcare not only enhances accessibility but also improves healthcare outcomes, especially for underserved communities. What's particularly compelling about telemedicine is its potential to address healthcare access disparities. Telemedicine offers a lifeline for individuals residing in regions with inadequate healthcare systems, granting them access to prompt medical care. This availability has the potential to significantly impact lives, providing essential medical guidance and treatments that might otherwise be inaccessible. Moreover, telemedicine doesn't just offer immediate care, but it also promotes preventive healthcare. It grants easier access to people seeking regular check-ups and advice while prompting early intervention for a range of health issues. Taking a bold stance in healthcare holds the promise of significantly reducing healthcare burdens and improving general wellness. Especially during difficult times, like the COVID-19 pandemic, I recall depression crawling through me. I desperately needed appropriate mental help beyond my circle of friends. Thankfully, telemedicine has evolved and flourished as a means to enhance mental well-being too. I've taken my own approach to signing up for therapy sessions using Talkspace, allowing me to access therapy sessions to transform my mental health journey. From either the comfort of my home or my school's dorm room, these flexible sessions have offered me consistent support and allowed me to balance therapy. Talkspace's accessibility has empowered me to prioritize self-care. It is truly a real example of how technology responds to what society needs, showcasing how innovation can swiftly address critical issues and improve lives. As an advocate for utilizing technology to address societal challenges, the impact of telemedicine serves as a powerful example. It illustrates how technology can break barriers, enhance accessibility, and ultimately contribute to a healthier, more equitable society. I am passionate about using technology to tackle big challenges, and telemedicine is a perfect model of that. It shows how technology can break barriers and make healthcare more accessible, which is a goal I am aiming to continuously fight for. Telemedicine is MY personal reminder of how thoughtful use of technology can genuinely create a world where every individual receives the necessary and accessible care.

Through my educational pursuits, I'm striving to create a path that brings together my love for technology, psychology, and making a difference in society. My biggest goal? It is making a real impact on mental health care, especially for marginalized communities, like the one I grew up in Newark, NJ. As I embark on my academic journey, there are several key aspirations I'm aiming for that will drive my direction and purpose in the future. Firstly, I'm aiming to get a solid foundation by majoring in Cognitive Science, integrating insights from psychology, technology, and human behavior. This path is extremely crucial to understanding how our minds work, driving me to contribute to mental health advancements. Nonetheless, I aspire to specialize in UX/UI design, leveraging technology as a tool for enhancing mental health support systems. I'm excited to design digital tools that make mental health care easier to access and more effective, addressing the diverse needs of BIPOC populations. Another crucial facet of my educational goals involves cultivating a deep understanding of community dynamics. By diving into the study of different cultures and societies, I aim to grasp the unique challenges they face when it comes to mental health. This knowledge will empower me to develop solutions that truly connect with diverse cultural backgrounds. I'm also keen on getting involved in research that explores how technology can improve mental health care. By working on projects like these, I hope to find new ways to bridge the gap and offer better, more personalized care. Beyond academic endeavors, I am committed to leveraging my educational journey to advocate for mental health awareness. Through writing, speaking engagements, and community involvement, I seek to amplify voices, challenge perspectives, and shed light on marginalized narratives. In the future, I see myself right at the forefront, working on projects that change the game for mental health care. Whether it's in a research center, a tech-driven organization, or a group that fights for better mental health, I want to bring my skills in design, cognitive science, and community engagement to make a real difference. Ultimately, my education isn't just about gaining knowledge but about harnessing it as a force for positive change. I aspire to be someone who advocates, designs and connects the endless bridge of technology with humanity, all to ensure mental health support is fair, inclusive, and empowering for everyone, no matter who they are or where they are from.

“You are growing into consciousness, and my wish for you is that you feel no need to constrict yourself to make other people comfortable.” This quote by Ta-Nehisi Coates, author of Between The World and Me, highlights the importance of not limiting ourselves or suppressing our powerful words as Black youth in the world. In this novel, Coates aims to educate his son on the persistent struggles he underwent as a Black child in Baltimore, and how fear was a battle he regularly faced because the same system set in place to protect him, had also failed him in America. This novel was dedicated to teaching his son, Samori, how to survive and navigate his present and future surroundings in America due to racial systematic injustice. While this novel specifically focuses on the struggles that Black youth unfortunately bear in society, I aim to shed light on the prioritization of the mental and emotional well-being of Black youth that remains unspoken of today. Mentoring the youth is essential to me because there is a consistent overlook of mental and emotional health of young Black students in my community. From the jail systems put in place to become an irresistible force to suppress Black power, to the school-to-prison pipeline made to suppress Black creativity, and even broken family homes that suppress Black happiness, Black children are left to pick up the pieces on building their own identity in America. They are left with trauma because they are taught to put their hopes into systems that are supposedly designed to protect them, but at what cost? Instead of constant reassurance and empathy on what happens in their lives, Black students are subjected to strict or stressful environments with the mentality that they must take what they get with repercussions. This leads to them feeling silenced, or not feeling vulnerable or comfortable enough to talk about their feelings without shame. Growing up, I was also a young Black student who felt silenced and didn’t feel comfortable enough to open up to my teachers because I felt that emotional being had no place in the learning curriculum. However, when I had the desire to rhyme every feeling in my head in a class notebook, I knew that school somehow had the potential to be a safe space. Black students lack interactive emotional outlets in their lives and instead of ignoring the emotional needs of our youth, we have to make them aware that they are our biggest priorities. The classroom is meant to be one of the most essential and creative places for a child to learn and develop who they are as human beings. It marks their coming-of-age from childhood to adulthood and how they learn demonstrates how our world will evolve over time. But if they are not able to be open about their mental and emotional health in their environments, are they truly processing and internalizing what self-expression and individualism look like? Being a part of the Black community means encompassing all of the power our ancestors have lost or that we have lost, and redefining it in a manner where we are active against systems meant to isolate our creativity and self-expression. Just like Coates, I aim to share and teach the story of my experience as a Black individual, to keep the youth educated on the fact that it is more than okay to voice how they feel because their voice alone can break barriers far beyond one’s expectations.

The consistent overlook of the mental and emotional health of young students of color in our community. From jail systems put in place to suppress youth power, to the school-to-prison pipeline made to suppress creativity, and even broken family homes that suppress happiness, young students are left to pick up the pieces to build their own identity in America. They are left with trauma because they are taught to put their hopes into systems that are supposedly designed to protect them, but at what cost? Instead of empathy for what happens in their lives, students of color are subjected to strict or stressful environments with the mentality that they must take what they get with repercussions. This leads to them feeling silenced, or not feeling comfortable enough to talk about their feelings without shame. It was the Summer of 2022 when a bright notification from my phone read, “Rutgers University”, “Paid internship”, “Research,”, and “Youth Leader”. Before I could even let out another breath, I frantically completed the google form. I knew that this was a possible opportunity that could shape my future and waiting for a response, excited me even more. The ‘Summer Youth Action Research Internship’ was a redefining opportunity for me to learn more about myself and my community. I knew that this was a role I wanted to inhabit to research and interact with other individuals who had similar intentions as me. When settling into the environment, my instructor told us that the internship would consist of the team working together on a project centered on a specific community, focused on race, gender, sexuality, etc. I knew what I wanted to do this project on, so I introduced a topic to my peers that sparked my intellectual curiosity and knew that it could help our community. The idea I introduced was the need for school funding for mental health services and activities to boost student self-esteem and interaction in their environments. I specifically believed that properly funded services could alleviate depression and anxiety within the student population. I openly expressed to my peers that I was a student who struggled with balancing school life and a strict home environment where the expectation is that I must achieve the highest grades for my family’s satisfaction. I wanted to research to introduce resources that could be offered in schools to support students’ mental and emotional health, like more student clubs and even wellness days and events. My vulnerability about my mental health struck my entire group because we all recalled how brutal the COVID-19 pandemic was on us. The pandemic served as a wake-up call to many young people around the country. Restricted interaction and difficult home environments challenged students who found it hard to attend class and complete their assignments with deadlines at 11:59 PM. Overall, my group and I released surveys and conducted interviews on whether or not students felt their emotional and social well-being was prioritized aside from school work, inside and outside of the classroom setting. We eventually introduced our findings and ideas to our school principal to express our concerns on how to shape the school culture and environment better. My principal considered our solutions and eventually implemented more thrilling events like talent shows and competitions to earn rewards, new club opportunities, and wellness days for our hard work throughout the year. Consequently, being in this internship made me realize how much I enjoy helping students like me, and I want them to acknowledge that their self-expression is of incredible value to the community.

I am meant to be my parent’s American Dream. A dream of endless possibilities which later turned into an unhealthy obsession drilled into me since I can remember. It was the year of the COVID-19 pandemic, and I could vividly remember the coldness and emptiness of my household. My older sister, brother, and I sit on the brown modern couch in our living room. My father sits aloof on the fading black one meters away. The chilled distance between us did not match the intensity of the atmosphere and the heat I felt inside. An endless stream of silver tears gushes down my cheeks when it is my turn to address him. “I never feel appreciated by you! All I feel is pressure to build your legacy.” It was my most vulnerable moment, yet the most liberating. A cluster of rebuttals coming from him, ushered one last sentence out of me, “You have never asked, “Chioma, how are you?” I longed for him to ask this question, to remind me that I’m more than just an investment for his satisfaction. Sometimes I feel I owe my parents more of what they envision for me simply because they left the rest of their family in Nigeria to come to Newark, a place they thought was filled with such prosperous opportunities for their children. This immigrant story comes with the expectation that I will be more successful than my dad is in his current occupation as a substitute teacher. Nothing is more important for him than having me get on the high honor roll or become the valedictorian, followed by medical or law school, all which will result in bragging rights for him. My dad’s expectations feel like an obsession, but instead of inspiring me, I feel rebellious. There is a prevailing and consistent overlook of the mental and emotional health of young Black students in our community. From the jail systems put in place to become an irresistible force to suppress Black power, to the school-to-prison pipeline made to suppress Black creativity, and even broken family homes that suppress Black happiness, Black children are left to pick up the pieces on building their own identity in America. They are left with trauma because they are taught to put their hopes into systems that are supposedly designed to protect them, but at what cost? Instead of empathy for what happens in their lives, Black students are subjected to strict or stressful environments with the mentality that they must take what they get with repercussions. This leads to them feeling silenced, or not feeling vulnerable or comfortable enough to talk about their feelings without shame. I will never forget that I am an immigrant kid. While I am grateful for the opportunities in America, I am more than willing to share and grow my Nigerian identity. On the other hand, I want to reverse the side effects of feeling silenced, invisible, and desperate for recognition of my authentic self. Being a part of the Black community means encompassing all of the power our ancestors have lost or that we have lost, and redefining it in a manner where we are active against systems meant to isolate our creativity and self-expression. I aim to share and teach the story of my experience as a Black individual and to successfully keep the youth educated on the fact that it is more than okay to voice how they feel because their voice alone can break barriers far beyond one’s expectations.

“You are growing into consciousness, and my wish for you is that you feel no need to constrict yourself to make other people comfortable.” This quote by Ta-Nehisi Coates, author of Between The World and Me, highlights the importance of not limiting ourselves or suppressing our powerful words as young Black individuals in the world. This novel that Coates writes is dedicated to teaching his son, Samori, how to survive and navigate his present and future surroundings in America due to racial systematic injustice. While this novel specifically focuses on the struggles that Black youth unfortunately bear in society, I aim to shed light on the prioritization of the mental and emotional well-being of Black youth that remains unspoken of today. The consistent overlook of the mental and emotional health of young Black students is one of the biggest issues in society today. From the jail systems put in place to become an irresistible force to suppress Black power, to the school-to-prison pipeline made to suppress Black creativity, and even broken family homes that suppress Black happiness, Black children are left to pick up the pieces on building their own identity in America. They are left with trauma because they are taught to put their hopes into systems that are supposedly designed to protect them, but at what cost? Instead of constant reassurance and empathy on what happens in their lives, Black students are subjected to strict or stressful environments with the mentality that they must take what they get with repercussions. This leads to them feeling silenced, or not feeling vulnerable or comfortable enough to talk about their feelings without shame. Growing up, I was also a young Black student who felt silenced and didn’t feel comfortable enough to open up to my teachers because I felt that emotional being had no place in the learning curriculum. However, when I had the desire to rhyme every feeling in my head in a class notebook, I knew that school somehow had the potential to be a safe space. Many Black students lack interactive emotional outlets in their lives and instead of ignoring the emotional needs of our youth, we have to make them aware that they are our biggest priorities. The classroom is meant to be one of the most essential and creative places for a child to learn and develop who they are as human beings. It marks their coming-of-age from childhood to adulthood and how they learn demonstrates how our world will evolve over time. But if they are not able to be open about their mental and emotional health in their environments, are they truly processing and internalizing what self-expression and individualism look like? Near the end of his novel, Coates says, “Black power births a kind of understanding that illuminates all the galaxies in their truest colors.” Being a part of the Black community means encompassing all of the power our ancestors have lost or that we have lost, and redefining it in a manner where we are active against systems meant to isolate our creativity and self-expression. Just like Coates, I aim to pursue a degree in English where I can eventually share and teach the story of my experience as a Black individual, to keep the youth educated on the fact that it is more than okay to voice how they feel because their voice alone can break barriers far beyond one’s expectations.

Between The World And Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates concentrates on how intersectionality (specifically education and social status) offers tools to analyze societal issues and how the use of this framework is crucial to target systematic oppression. This book has transformed my life because Coates not only goes into depth about race and societal issues in America like racism, the school to prison pipeline, etc, but he also aims to educate his son on the means of protecting himself as a young black man in America. In the novel, Coates addresses systematic oppression; involving how the creation of the streets and schools are hindrances due to its means of instilling fear and pressure into the Black youth. For instance, Coates proposes the question “why precisely was I sitting in this classroom," and while his question was “never answered”, Coates realized that “the schools were not concerned with curiosity,” but are more concerned with “compliance.” (26) Consequently, he employs this rhetorical question to indicate how his presence in school was swayed when this afflicted system did not answer his curiosity: about him, his surroundings, and the world around him. Even though it is unknown if he answered the questions he proposed in the novel, one can understand that education is made to leave students in need of answers, allowing them to go out of their own ways to seek truth about the world. To boost mindfulness, Coates explains his family's influence of self-interrogation, which he generationally passes down to his son. This self-examination connects to the questioning that schools impersonate to educate the Black youth on discipline and guidance instead of fostering curiosity. Through this broad theme, Coates wants to enforce the concept that even though the stages of intersectionality became assembled into American status, Black people are continuously walking through the doors of the American nightmare. The barbarous blotched masterpiece that America adores proves the ultimate failure that Blacks feel knowing that they have offered their love to America when America can not do the same. There is no end to the expressed distress of the African American community, and as movements such as Black Lives Matter come into play, the Black world is becoming more knowledgeable, answering their own curiosities about their ancestry, lives, and people around them. Coates endorses his message that even as a teacher, writer, and parent, he must prepare his son to understand that the world has become shaped the way it is because of history, including that one must reserve hope to reshape America into a more desirable society. Despite Coates' target audience of this novel to be his son, I am also a part of this audience. I am also listening and learning from Coates' story about how to survive and navigate America as a young Black individual. This novel has taught me a lot about the systems set in place for people like me and that the only way to truly change the system is by dominating it from the inside. Ultimately, I have specifically learned how to dominate intersectional oppression by utilizing the voice that Coates has helped allocate for me and help spark social change in my surroundings.